Monday 3 March 2008

戀愛心曲

看《Juno 少女孕記》的時候,看到了這齣愛情歌唱電影《戀愛心曲》(Across the Universe) 的預告片。前天去看,跟看慣的愛情片和歌舞片大有分別,挺別致。

《戀》片唱出了披頭四 (The Beatles) 30 多首歌曲,進場前已經把原聲唱片從頭到尾聽過兩三遍。然而,配合劇情看七彩繽紛、五花八門的影片時,又是另一番風味。我聽披頭四的歌不多,只擁有三張他們的專輯:經典之一的《The Beatles》(更多人稱 The White Album)、收錄歷年最流行作品的《1》、2006 年底為 Cirque du Soleil《Love》劇目把部份舊作重新編曲、混音後推出的同名精選輯(是在名古屋買的日版 CD)。也許《戀》的導演 Julie Taymor 是披頭四的歌迷,選曲精準也有點冷門,比較接近《Love》專輯。一些角色的名字大概取材自披頭四的歌曲:男、女主角分別喚 Jude(《Hey Jude》)和 Lucy(《Lucy in the Sky with Diamond》),還有杜麗莎女兒 T.V. Carpio 飾演的 Prudence(《Dear Prudence》)。

故事講 1960 年代英國 利物浦一個工人階級窮小子 Jude 去美國找尋生父,做了非法移民,認識了有點玩世不恭的 Max,更愛上了其妹 Lucy。後來三人在紐約與嬉皮浪族同住一個屋簷下,愛情生活和人生際遇充滿悲歡離合。

電影不是主流劇情片,演員邊做邊唱,人物刻劃跟愛情描寫其實不大細膩。主角的美貌不是第一等,沒有《羅密歐與茱麗葉:後現代激情篇》(Romeo + Juliet) 那麼賞心悅目。對那個年代的火紅青春、迷幻新潮、越戰爭議等都是借題發揮,不能盡信。然而,戲中幾個配角都有那個年代新潮樂手的影子:包租婆 Sadie 是夜店歌手,像感情流露不那麼暴烈的 Janis Joplin;跟 Sadie 又離又合,有波希米亞色彩的吉他手 JoJo 就像 Jimi Hendrix。其他角色各有色彩:男主角 Jude 有藝術天分,牆上草莓那一幕相當震撼;女主角 Lucy 因為前度男友在越戰中陣亡,後來參與反戰活動,捲進了時代洪流;Prudence 是同性戀者,從俄亥俄州乘順風車到紐約市,嚐遍青春、愛情的苦杯;Max 本是反叛不羈的普林斯頓大學學生,後來被徵召入伍打越戰,受到地獄式苦難。

片子還有一些有份量的客串明星,包括高歌一曲《Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite》的 Eddie Izzard、扮演迷幻大師大唱《I Am the Walrus》的 U2 樂隊主將 Bono、在 Max 注射藥物後產生的幻象裏出現的(五個) Salma Hayek

《戀愛心曲》中的披頭四歌曲很多是全球幾代人所熟悉的,值得懷舊歌迷捧場,我看那場有不少成熟的觀眾。就是對披頭四不熟悉,將他們的名作配以靈活多采的演繹、變奏,也各有風味,其中幾場載歌載舞的段落甚佳:徵兵狂想曲華麗中滲出陰森,讓人想起《迷牆》(Pink Floyd The Wall);《Strawberry Fields Forever》聰明地表達了女主角在愛情、親情、理想之間的矛盾和掙扎;《All You Need Is Love》是完美的大團圓;《Happiness is a Warm Gun》在超現實之中透出濃烈情緒;《Hey Jude》配合劇情,產生了巧妙而感人的變奏。然而,最討好、最賞心悅目的始終是男主角 Jim Sturgess 演唱《I've Just Seen a Face》一段,讓他顯得神采奕奕:(原來片段已經刪除,改貼預告片)


Julie Taymor 導過歌劇、莎劇、音樂劇,亦拍過描寫墨西哥傳奇女畫家的電影《筆姬別戀》(Frida)。電影在美術、服裝方面花過心思。開場不久男、女主角在大西洋兩岸分別唱出《Hold Me Tight》,佈景、服飾、演唱風格都搞得很貼切:1960 年代的美國,是看來乾淨幼滑、多吃便膩的「奶油」;1960 年代的英國,是看似邋遢、啖着卻有勿歇勿完之勢的「黃芥末」。

嚴格來說,《戀愛心曲》拍攝風格不夠統一,也有幾段色彩斑斕卻有點標奇立異的戲份。但是,它把披頭四的歌曲重新包裝,倒讓我和其他新世代對 40 年前的青春火花增添了一些認識。此外,電影大談反戰、大美國主義,似乎是不滿現代美國的反恐戰。現在的世界紛爭不斷,電影同名歌曲《Across the Universe》換上了迷幻的編曲,彷彿映照出現世疲憊、受傷的心靈,跟幾十年前的青春世代似乎遙遙互應。



The Beatles: official site
The Beatles: Wikipedia

6 comments:

  1. Julie Taymor was the very creative force and director who brought Lion King to Broadway. It was a critically acclaimed adaptation which successfully infused African arts and culture into a well-known cinematic premise. I read the book with respect to her creative journey, and it was an awe-inspiring experience.

    Last month I bought the "Across the Universe" DVD and there was a lot of bonus materials detailing Taymor's inspiration and ambitions in making this film, very interesting.

    Amongst all the new renditions, I personally like the way they breathed new life into "Come Together" and "If I fell." Lead actor Jim Sturgess reminded me of Ewan McGregor of the "Moulin Rouge" fame, from appearance to vocal performance.

    I agreed that the plot of the film was flimsy at most, yet I found all the actors very talented and very natural. The film was meant to be viewed as an art form, where the medium was the message, hence there was not much of a point to question the credibility of the events.

    It may not be the best film ever made in 2007, but it was certainly audacious, innovating, and passionate.

    ReplyDelete
  2. 呢套留番買DVD,可以做reference

    ReplyDelete
  3. 我知有此戲,一直在等,到現在這邊還未上影。

    ReplyDelete
  4. Vince,
    Sounds the zone 1 DVD a great buy. I should visit the Wanchai store to check out the price.

    "Come Together" is good as I kept clapping my lap while I watched it :)

    Evan looks more fun in "Moulin Rouge" while Jim sounds more natural in singing. I must say I always prefer British (or European) actors to their American counterparts.

    Passionate ... right!


    Naruto:
    我也會,只差要 1 區(視乎價錢和 features)還是等 3 區。

    Galaxy:
    美國去年九月上映了,怎麼你那邊那麼慢?你該會喜歡此片的。

    ReplyDelete
  5. i like Beatles and i liked the poster, but i think overall this would be better as a musical than a film. It's not as natural as other musical films where you get the script first and then make the music -- in this film they have the songs first so it seems to have affected the way the story went. i guess vietnam war to them is like 抗日戰 to us.

    I like "come together" too, basically every song that features the black guy is good.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I haven't able to find the zone 1 DVD in any local store ar ...

    ReplyDelete